Why a 2016 Tea Party Primary Challenge Against Paul Ryan Will Fail

Only one Wisconsin U.S. Representative has lost a primary since 1950 and just four others have won by less than double-digits

For the past few weeks there has been chatter around Wisconsin that Tea Party groups are preparing to run a primary challenger against Republican U.S. Representative Paul Ryan due in part to the nearly $2 trillion spending bill that passed last month under his leadership.

Although this is now a post-Eric Cantor political environment in which no powerful GOP leader can be labeled ‘invincible’ in a renomination bid, there is little reason to believe Speaker Ryan will suffer a similar fate – even setting aside his general popularity back home.

And just how effective have Wisconsin U.S. House members been in securing their renominations over the decades?

A Smart Politics review of primary election data finds that just one Wisconsin U.S. Representative has lost a renomination bid since 1950 out of more than 50 contested primaries conducted during this 33-cycle span, with nearly 90 percent of incumbents winning by more than 20 points.

Since 1950, U.S. House members from the Badger State have been renominated 289 times out of 290 attempts, for a 99.7 percent success rate, including each of the last 161 tries since 1976.

The only Wisconsin U.S. Representative to lose a primary during this 64-year period was Republican Glenn Davis of the 9th Congressional District in 1974.

Davis was in his 10th nonconsecutive term in the U.S. House that cycle when he faced State Senator Bob Kasten in the GOP primary.

Kasten defeated Davis by 14.4 points marking the first renomination loss by a Wisconsin incumbent from the nation’s lower legislative chamber in 26 years.

Prior to Davis, the last Wisconsin U.S. House member to lose in a primary was four-term Republican William Stevenson in 1948.

Stevenson was defeated by former four-term Progressive U.S. Representative Gardner Withrow that cycle by 2.8 points in a three candidate GOP primary.

Of course, most Wisconsin incumbents have skated through the renomination phase without any opposition.

During this 64-year period from 1950 through 2014, less than one in five Wisconsin U.S. Representatives faced a primary challenger.

Of the 290 primaries with an incumbent on the ballot, just 51 saw any opposition, or 17.6 percent.

Five other incumbents were renominated by 20-29 points, three won by 30-39 points, six won by 40-49 points, seven won 50-59 points, six won by 60-69 points, 14 won by 70-79 points, and three won by 80-89 points.

The average victory margin for incumbents in a contested primary has been 51.6 points across these seven decades.

As for Paul Ryan, he has faced a primary opponent just once during his eight reelection bids since 2000.

That came last cycle in 2014 in the form of his namesake, Jeremy Ryan, and Rep. Ryan won 94.1 percent of the vote.

That marks the strongest primary showing by any Wisconsin U.S. House member across the 51 contested primaries since 1950.

In only two other instances has a primary winner eclipsed the 90 percent mark during this span with one of Ryan’s predecessors, Democrat Les Aspin, the last to do so in 1972 against Gerald Janca (winning 90.6 percent).

The only other incumbent to reach 90 percent in a contested primary since 1950 was long-serving Milwaukee Democrat Clement Zablocki in 1966 – recording 90.1 percent of the vote against frequent primary opponent Roman Blenski.

[Blenski was involved in more than a quarter of the 51 primary challenges during this 33-cycle span – appearing on the 4th CD Democratic ballot 13 times: in 1958, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1988, 1990, 1996, and 1998. Blenski never won more than 16.5 percent of the vote].

Ryan’s 88.6-point win in his 2014 renomination bid is also the largest victory margin in a contested primary since 1950.

Although it is extremely unlikely that Ryan will fail to become his party’s nominee in 2016, there are signs from 2014 that he – and several of the state’s other seven incumbents – will face at least token primary opposition.

The 2014 cycle saw three of the seven incumbents running for reelection face a primary challenger – the highest number since 1990 when five opponents ran against four incumbents.

Representatives Ryan, Democrat Gwen Moore, and Republican Sean Duffy each had primary opponents in 2014, and that doesn’t include GOPer Tom Petri who announced his resignation after State Senator and Assistant Majority Leader Glenn Grothman decided to jump in the 6th CD GOP race.

Thus far only one primary challenger has filed with the FEC – Eau Claire Democrat Myron Buchholz will take on 10-term incumbent Ron Kind in the 3rd CD.

From 1950 through 2014 the Wisconsin U.S. Representative who faced the largest number of contested primaries was the aforementioned Clement Zablocki in the 4th CD with 13. His successor, Jerry Kleczka, had four and his successor, Gwen Moore, has had two.

In “1964 (6th CD): Republican William Van Pelt won by 8.2 points over Jack Steinhilber.” Both were very conservative. Van Pelt hung out with his wealthy supporters–few others ever saw him; Winnebago County DA Steinhilber spent time with the Young Republicans, etc. He and they wanted a Representative who was actively supporting the entire 1964 ticket. Union leader John Race won one term in November’s Democrat landslide; Steinhilber went on to lead Wisconsin DAs. This primary challenge came because of accessibility, not ideology. Ryan is young and still accessible; purists need to take on Rep. Moore or Sen. Baldwin to make a difference.

Corrupt: Are voters ignorant of what and who RYAN actual is and who he represents? Open borders, free unfair trade, Ryan actually stated (channeling Pelosi on the passage of Obama Care Act)in order to see what is in TPP and the fast tract, “you must vote for it to see what is in it”!

So eliminating our physical economy in Wisconsin and continuing to being bought off by the globalist interest who favor using communist slave labor while feathering his own nest, as well! (builds a wall around his own house)

Ryan IS NOT Conservative ~ he does not preserve American sovereignty – freedom and independence of American companies and American jobs and American families!

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